The Strategy Strata: Rethinking What It Means to Teach Online
What if teaching online was the vehicle, not the destination?
Today, we’re going deep into one of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve experienced over the last several months.
While working with my students inside Culinary Creator Business School, I realized that so much of what we were doing was beyond just how to teach a 90-minute Zoom class.
We were diving into strategies such as how to grow your audience through developing a signature talk and pitching podcasts, as well as how to create your own podcast. Online classes were just a small part of the overall online business puzzle. That’s when I had an a-ha moment that lead me to create my special 3-part framework called the Strategy Strata.
In this episode, I’m sharing my Strategy Strata, which breaks down the 3 different levels of strategy based on key criteria. No matter if you’re a beginner or experienced solopreneur, you’ll get more clear on your next steps after listening to this episode! I can’t wait for you to tune in.
Links from this episode
Watch our new free masterclass to learn our 4-step framework to teaching online and the details of our new program, The Online Jumpstart™️!
Get on the waitlist for The Profit Parfait™️ (for experienced business owners)
Sign up for my FREE Culinary Roadmap and learn how to start a flexible and fulfilling online business.
Say hello to Cynthia on Instagram → @culinarycynthia!
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CYNTHIA SAMANIAN: Hello, and welcome back to the CCBS podcast. I want to thank all of you who messaged me after last week's episode. As I shared, I took a bit of a break and I went through all of the reasons why and what's ahead. And this episode is an extension of last week's show. In case you missed it, definitely give it a listen. It will give you some context before we dive in here.
Now in that episode, I hinted at the idea of teaching online being more than what we think of today. If I were to ask someone, maybe you, what you think of when I say teaching online? Well, you'd probably say something like a Zoom class or an online course. That's what we think of immediately and I'm starting to discover that's a very limited view.
What if we think of teaching as the vehicle, not the destination?
Over the last few months, I've been thinking about this more and more. I've been chatting with students about this inside my program and as I was helping them with their online classes, what I realized was that the conversations we were having were turning more into strategy rather than the nuts and bolts of teaching a Zoom class.
Before I knew it, we were having conversations about broader ways to teach online, including how to develop a signature talk, how to pitch yourself to a podcast to grow your audience and how to define all of the different ways that you can serve people.
What I realized is that teaching touches everything. And that's when I came up with something that I am really excited to share with you today in this episode.
Now, let me start first with the challenge. Let's talk about the problem that faces every single culinary creator, no matter where you're at, whether you are a beginner or you've been at this for a few years or more. The number one problem practically everyone faces is that there is just so much to do.
And I will also add that most of you are probably solopreneurs. You are doing everything from managing your website to design and graphics in Canva, figuring out what to teach, grocery shopping, cleaning up, everything in between. There is so much to do. And there's even more that you think you should be doing too.
I get questions all the time. Should I be on TikTok, Cynthia? Should I start a Substack paid newsletter? Or should I start a blog? Should I fill in the blank? Seriously, you fill in the blank. I've probably been asked it. I'm not a believer in quote “shoulds” because I just, I have a hard time with it. I don't think there's a cookie cutter solution out there that works for everyone who wants to grow a profitable online culinary business.
And I have to say, if someone tries to sell you on this idea that there is a one size fits all model, you should be skeptical and probably run the other way. Yes, there are frameworks you can apply. Frameworks are really important, and I'm actually going to walk you through one today. But there is no one size fits all solution to your business.
As I started to get more and more of these questions from my students, I realized that they were looking to me for the answer. They're like, okay, Cynthia, what should I do first? And then what should I do after that? And then after that, and then after that, and I had a moment where I was like, you know what, I want to stop telling people what they should do. I don't like this. I actually know that the best answer I could give them was not telling them what to do, but instead helping them think about how to do it.
I like to use the analogy of a massive 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Imagine that your online business strategy is just that. It's just one huge puzzle with thousands of pieces. If you were going to put a puzzle together, how would you do it?
Well, there's no one right way to do it. But we know that there are steps you can take to put it together faster. Right? So maybe you start with the edges, you find corners. You group pieces that have similar colors.
We know that there are things we can do to get results faster or basically put that puzzle together faster. That's called a strategy, right? It's your plan of action.
And what I realized over time is that I really, really love strategy. I love talking about it. I love helping my students navigate their own strategies. And I think it's because I realized that if I could empower my students to understand the strategy behind their business, that would unlock so much more for them than any one single piece of advice or answer that I could give them.
Now that you have the background, I want to walk you through what I call the Strategy Strata. This is something that I'm teaching inside my program. This is a new framework and I kind of just, I didn't want to keep it to myself and to the program. I figured why not open this up and share it with you?
So let's talk about the Strategy Strata. This is going to help you identify what strategy you should be focusing on based on where you are in your business today.
Each layer of the strata represents a different strategy related to teaching. Okay. You might be thinking, wait, Cynthia strata? Yes. Yes. I named this framework after a strata. You know, casserole. A layered dish. Because that's what you get to do by the way, when you have a niche, it is so much fun to name things.
I can name a framework after a strata and not really have to explain why, because you are my people. It feels really, really good.
So I want you to imagine a dish made up of three layers. We're going to keep it simple and just say it's strata made up of bread on the bottom, then cheese, and then egg poured on top.
Just like making a strata or if you've never made one, think about a lasagna, we start from the bottom and work our way up.
The base layer, again, let's just say it's the bread, well, that's your foundation. It's Level one: teach to learn. This is where everyone starts. This is where you learn about your niche. You learn about your ideal student, how to market your class, how to create a sales page, how to set up the tech to teach.
You are going to learn a lot about how to create, market and sell an online class, but even more, you're going to learn a lot about yourself in the process.
For example, maybe you thought you were really shy and you wouldn't do so well teaching live. Well, you could surprise yourself. I've had a lot of students teach that first class and say that they came out of their shell in unexpected ways.
When you're in level one. You are teaching to learn. That is your primary goal. This is where most people who join me inside my program are at. They have the culinary expertise, they know they want to teach people, but they're missing the foundation to get things up and running.
When I say foundation too, I'm not just talking about your teaching tech and setting up things for your online class. I mean your overall foundation. Like having a website, a freebie, content, like a podcast, a YouTube channel, a blog, and having your email newsletters.
You have to have a way for people to go from not knowing who you are to signing up for your class. And each of those pieces plays a part in what's called your marketing funnel. Now the goal here is to have that foundation in place and to teach your first class, because I am so confident that when you have taught a live class, whether it's a workshop, a hands-on cooking class, whatever format, you now have a way to make money that's quick, flexible, and now doable.
This doesn't mean that you are only going to teach live cooking classes for the rest of your culinary career, but it's something that you can fall back on if you need to have an injection of cash or if you want to have an asset that you can use to partner with others, whether it's other culinary creators, brands or organizations.
Now from here, you're only going to keep growing. The next level in our Strategy Strata is Level Two: Teach to Grow.
You're now at this level, because you have your foundation in place, you've taught a live class or workshop, and now you're focused on growing your audience to 1000 subscribers. That's right. When I say audience, I actually mean email subscribers. I am all about growing your email list because it is still the most effective way to get in front of your audience consistently.
You're not dependent on algorithms. You actually own your email list. It's an asset you can control. And your email list will most likely be your primary source of sales. Now don't get me wrong. I do think there's value in using Instagram and other social platforms, especially if that's where your community spends their time. But I I'm going to be honest. I wouldn't invest a minute in social media unless I had a way to get my followers, to get my audience, off of Instagram, to my email list.
In fact, I've been having conversations with some of my students on this. Because they've come to me and said, Cynthia, I feel so guilty about not posting on Instagram. Or I feel like I have to post every day. And when I look at their account, I don't see a call to action to get on an email list. I don't see a freebie. I don't see any way for them to capture their followers onto their own email list. And so I've been writing a lot of permission slips lately and just saying, listen, pause on Instagram until you have your marketing funnel built out. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. This is a hot take. Someone else may disagree with this, but I've found in my business and with those that I work with it only makes sense to really invest in social media when you have a place for people to go outside of the platform.
Okay. So I am done with my email list versus social media rant. Let's go back to Level Two: Teach to Grow. What you're doing here is teaching with the goal of growing your audience.
That is your primary goal in this level. Going back to my earlier point, though, teaching is not limited to a 90-minute Zoom class. We're going to open our minds here and think much more broadly. You can teach through the content you post on Instagram. When you create a Reel, when you go live, you are teaching. You can teach through speaking at an event. Being a guest on a podcast as well as partnering with other creators to teach a class or to co-host an event. There are many ways to teach online. It goes beyond the traditional Zoom class.
When you combine some of these activities and you have your marketing funnel in place, you will start to see your subscriber number grow. Now I mentioned a thousand subscribers and you might be wondering, well, why a thousand?
That may feel really big to you right now, especially if you don't have an email list. This is where math comes into play. If you don't have a large enough audience, it's going to be challenging to make meaningful money. And I say meaningful because yes, with a list of 500 subscribers, you definitely can make money by selling a variety of things, but it's not till you hit at least a thousand subscribers can you start to make revenue that actually moves the needle and makes you think, huh, this could be a big business.
The average conversion rates for online services and products can be anywhere from 2 to 5%. So if you do the math and you think of what 5% would be a 500 people, well that's 25 people or 25 sales. And if you're selling a product for say a hundred dollars, that's $2,500, which yes, that's great. But you need to grow your email list to be more than what it is today. And again, you have to have at least a thousand subscribers before you move into level three.
Now, if you want to make money ASAP and you're at level two, you have experienced teaching online, you have the foundation in place, but you are just waiting and working, I should say, to get to 1000 subscribers, then you need to consider some revenue opportunities that are more networked.
For example, private events and corporate team building. These are not as dependent on the size of your email list, as say, public classes, online courses and other digital products.
Private and corporate event sales are usually done through relationships. So if you have a great network of people who work in corporate, maybe from a past career or from, you know, family or friends then certainly tap into it. It won't matter how big your email list is. If they know you and they trust you, then you definitely have a shot at making that work.
But here's a little word of warning. As a solopreneur, you only have so much time in your day. You have to prioritize.
When you say yes to something you are inherently saying no to something else.
If you're spending time on a corporate class, well, that's time that you could be spending pitching podcasts that would help grow your audience. There's no perfect formula here, but I just want you to be aware of this balance. You have to balance investing for growth with making money.
When you're in level two, it can be really helpful to work with a coach, someone who can help you prioritize these different activities. This is where a lot of people get stuck, because they fall into analysis paralysis or really, you know, experiencing indecision because there are so many opportunities out there. They're not sure which way to go.
So we had Level One: Teach to Learn, Level Two: Teach to Grow, and now we're at Level Three which is Teach to Earn. Let's bring on that final egg-y layer of goodness to our strata. Okay. At this point, your email, this has at least 1000 subscribers and these have to be pretty high quality, meaning they represent your ideal student, people who you actually want to serve.
Now you won't know every single one of your subscribers, but one thing to just think about here is if you already have a business or previous business, let's say that you worked in catering and you have an email list that includes all of your catering clients.
Moving forward, if you want to serve a different audience, say home cooks people who are interested in learning to cook from you. Well, they may not be the same. So for some of you, if you are an existing business owner and you have an email list from a previous business or a different type of business, you may be starting from scratch here.
Now there are strategies you can use to bring those people from your old list to your new list. You can invite them to join your new list by opting in using forms and all that good stuff.
When you're in level three, you are now in a place to make meaningful revenue through selling online classes, courses, team building experiences and more. We're going to talk about some of the different things you can sell when you're at this level.
Because you have a substantial number of subscribers, you can generate profits that will actually give you that freedom and flexibility you've been craving.
So, what can you sell? Well, I've made a list here. I have about six different ideas or so this is not exhaustive, but if you're wondering, okay, what can I sell once I get to Level 3? Here's some ideas. First off we have our live classes. These could be demo classes, cook-along classes, individual classes, or a series.
Going back to level one, this is the bread and butter class that you learned to how to teach so that you could use it later as an asset. You may find that your audience has an appetite for this type of class. So as your subscriber base grows, you can offer it and test the waters.
The second thing you can sell are corporate experiences. These could be team building or more wellness focused. The next thing you could sell are recorded courses. We then have memberships, coaching, which could be one-on-one coaching, or you could start a group coaching program. And finally you could create a paid email newsletter on a platform such as Substack.
Most of these, I'd say with the exception of corporate experiences and coaching, really require you to have a decent level of volume. So live classes, recorded courses, a membership, and a paid email newsletter. They're highly dependent on having a high volume of customers. So this is why, again, it's important that you continue to invest in and grow your email list.
Corporate experiences are a little bit different because they are higher ticket. And as I mentioned earlier, the sales really through through relationships. And for coaching, you don't necessarily need to have a massive email list for it to work, but you are limited in that it really involves a lot of your time. So it's not as easy to scale as say, a recorded course or a membership.
So we've talked about what you can sell when you're at level three. Now the next question you might have for me is well, Cynthia, how do we actually get those sales? Here is the good news. Your Level Two activities will actually help you sell in Level Three.
You've done all of the hard work already. And now it's about continuing to do it consistently. It's about building the know like, and trust factor with your audience.
And you do this through growing your audience through some of the activities we talked about in Level Two like pitching podcasts, being a guest speaker, partnering with other culinary creators.
And then you engage them with your content. I touched upon it really lightly in this episode, but one of the things that you will want to consider as you build out your online culinary business is having a form of content that you produce on a consistent basis.
It could be a podcast. It could be a YouTube channel. It could be a blog. But content is really the key and building that relationship with your audience. And without it, you are missing a big part in developing the relationship with them.
So that is the Strategy Strata. Starting from the bottom, it's Level One: Teach to Learn, Level Two: Teach to Grow, and Level Three: Teach to Earn. Remember, it's the bread, the cheese and the eggs. Let's walk through some examples just to make sure we are all clear on how this works.
Let's say you’re a private chef and you don't have an email list and you've never taught an online class. Which strategy is for you? Level One: Teach to Learn. It's all about building the foundation and it ripping off that Band-Aid and teaching your first live class.
Let's move into the next example. Let's say you're a food blogger and you have 300 email subscribers on your list. And do you have experience teaching a live workshop. The best strategy for you based on the Strata is Level Two: Teach to Grow. You want to focus on growing your email list to a thousand subscribers.
And finally let's say you're a cookbook author. You have 1500 email subscribers and you've taught a live class. Well, the best strategy for you is Level Three: Teach to Earn. It's time to start designing offers and putting them out there in front of your audience.
If there's one thing you take away from the Strategy Strata, it's this: you never wait to teach and you never stop teaching at any level. In all levels, you are teaching with a specific goal in mind. Teaching is the vehicle that helps you get to the next level. So I'd love to know which level are you at? Send me a message on Instagram. I'm @culinarycynthia, and let me know and tell me what resonated with you the most in this episode.
I know that so many of you listening love the idea of teaching. But you also want a business that supports the life you have. And it's my hope that by broadening the definition of teaching online and looking at things differently, you can see that there is a place for you in the online world. You don't have to force yourself to fit into a mold or to copy what you see out there.
There is no one perfect way to build and grow and online culinary business. I firmly believe that. Just like a jigsaw puzzle, there are so many ways you can put the pieces all together. So my goal with this episode is to help you see that while there are a lot of ways to do things and it may feel really overwhelming, you do have a strategy, a framework that you can use to help you make your next best decision.
If you enjoyed this episode, then I think you're going to have a lot of fun working with me inside my new program, The Online Jumpstart. I shared a little bit about it last episode but let me recap in case you missed it. This is not another online course. I repeat this is not a course. The Online Jumpstart is a done with you implementation program that helps you build an online business foundation and teach your first class in 90 days.
We have a Squarespace website template, we have pre-written email templates, we have class marketing templates in Canva. We have everything you need to get your online culinary business off the ground. To learn more about the program, I want you to go to theonlinejumpstart.com. There is a free masterclass it's less than an hour long and you can watch it at your own pace. This is perfect if you are finding yourself in Level One and you just want to get started.
Now if you're in Level Two or Level Three, then I want you to consider joining me inside my new group program called The Profit Parfait. If you want details, get on the waitlist by going to theprofitparfait.com.
It has been so fun being back on the podcast and I want to thank you all for your support and messages. Since I'm back from this brief hiatus I would absolutely love your help in spreading the word about the podcast so more people know that it is back. One way you could do that is by taking a screenshot of this episode and sharing it on Instagram. If you tag me @culinarycynthia, I would love it to share it as well. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you back here next week!
